Steve Austin: A new national mobile alert system is being trialled in Australia this year. It will probably affect you if you have a mobile phone. It’s the aim of delivering faster emergency warnings to Australians in times of disaster. Brendan Moon is the Coordinator-General of the National Emergency Management Agency. I asked him how the system works.
Brendan Moon: So, the AusAlert is a mobile telephone-based warning capability that's being delivered not only by the Australian Government but also to all state and territory emergency management agencies. It utilises cell broadcast technology and so as such it operates independently of our traditional mobile networks and that eliminates many of the delays that are caused by network congestion during major natural disasters.
Steve Austin: That seems pretty reasonable. So, how accurate is the system? Is it geolocating? What's it doing? How accurate?
Brendan Moon: So, the beauty of this system and this technology, Steve, and I'd point out that this technology is available in 30 other countries internationally and has been proven.
Steve Austin: That's tried and tested.
Brendan Moon: Absolutely. It can send near realtime messaging at scale, so that gets around the real challenges of the current SMS based system. But it also can be geo located down to within 160 metres of a mobile tower.
Steve Austin: So it's fairly accurate. That's not too bad. What are the two types of alerts that will be sent out? I'm keen to know the difference.
Brendan Moon: Ok, so there will be two different warning levels sent out or be able to be sent out, or be able to be sent out, by AusAlert. The first one, and that's the highest level of warning and that is when there is a threat to life or property, and that's going to be- it will appear on your home screen, on your lock screen as a critical alert. It's an intrusive alert, it has fixed volume, has a unique ringtone and it will vibrate your phone. Importantly, you cannot opt out of this particular message. The Priority, the second warning level is Priority, and this is essentially a Watch and Act. This is alerting people that there is a potential for an event that may impact their safety or their property. It is less intrusive and also people can opt out of that of receiving that message.
Steve Austin: My guest is Brendan Moon. Brendan is the Coordinator-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, or NEMA as it's known. He's walking me through a just announced new national mobile alert system that's beginning trials this year with the aim of delivering faster emergency warnings to Australian citizens in times of disaster. It only relates to Australia. In other words, if I'm say I'm holidaying in New Zealand or maybe Bali and you, NEMA sends out an Alert or a Watch and Act, will I receive it whilst I'm overseas, Brendan?
Brendan Moon: No you won't. They will be geolocated, these particular warnings. And this is an important thing to remember is that, for example, if you are actually a tourist or someone moving into an area where you usually don't receive the local alerts, you will receive a warning if there is potential for a major incident in that particular area.
Steve Austin: Okay. Now the system is designed for natural disasters such as bushfires and floods. Could it be used for things like police operations, terrorist incidents or other matters like that, Brendan Moon?
Brendan Moon: we absolutely recognise that the threat environment in which we currently operate in is challenging and it is quite different to where we were, say for example, in 2019. This system is designed to give governments both at a national level and also state and territory level, to actually craft messages to deal with health challenges, pandemics, for example, also biosecurity challenges, also potentially terrorism incidents as well. So, this has been designed to essentially provide a national warning and also a state and territory warning capability for a whole range of different crises or hazards.
Steve Austin: So, if a Bondi event was to occur again, the system could geolocate for people in a particular capital city and issue a warning.
Brendan Moon: It could provide warnings, but I would stress that this would be an operational decision taken by the local, state or territory police force.
Steve Austin: Ok, so that would be a police decision, not one for your group, NEMA.
Brendan Moon: Correct and the system has been designed for that. And we have been working, for example, with the Queensland Police Service for over 12 months, training those operators for the new system.
Steve Austin: Brendan Moon is the Coordinator General of the National Emergency Management Agency. This is 612 ABC Brisbane. So, what do I need to know about this alert system? I mean, it's fairly, you know, people are getting a little bit used to it, maybe depending. But it also sounds slightly Orwellian. So, what do people need to know about it, Brendan Moon?
Brendan Moon: So we've been engaging with groups across the country now for the past year in terms of the delivery of this system. Importantly, what people need to know is we will be conducting tests, community based tests, in June of this year and we have a test site in each state in Australia. And what it's going to test is, given the geographic spread and nature of Australia, the different and diverse communities, each one of these tests is designed to see how the system operates in a particular setting. And then in July, July 27th, we'll be conducting a national test and that's where we'll be attempting to send an AusAlert to all phones throughout the nation.
Steve Austin: That'll be a big day when it happens, I imagine.
Brendan Moon: It will be, Steve, but what we will be doing is, all the way through this, we'll be communicating with community through media outlets, through a whole range of avenues to let people know what's happening in their area and what to expect. So, there is a detailed communication and engagement plan that sits behind this and increasingly from next month onwards you'll be receiving updates on when these tests will take place, where and what we're seeking to achieve.
Steve Austin: If you've just turned on your radio or your smartphone, we're hearing about a new national mobile alert system that will be trialled this year for all Australians who have a mobile phone. Brendan Moon, how will the system differ to the one many people in South East Queensland are familiar with? Councils sometimes issue weather alerts for severe weather as sort of an SMS message on my phone. Mixed success, I think it's reasonable to say. How will your system, the national one, differ from that?
Brendan Moon: So, I think this is the beauty of the Australian Warning System, Steve, is there are multiple channels by which we communicate threats to the community. There's social media, there's the ABC radio, for example, and the emergency broadcast services provided by ABC, the community groups, there are councils, there are also the state and territories. This is one part of that constellation of warning services that will be available. But the benefits of this is that it is network agnostic, it's a cell broadcast technology. If there is a functioning cell tower within a particular area, it doesn't matter which carrier you’re on, you will receive a message which is unlike the current SMS system. So, this is a step change in technology from what we've had traditionally.
Steve Austin: It’s the nuclear option, Brendan Moon. It's kaboom, everyone gets it.
Brendan Moon: Well, everyone will for the Critical alert, yes, but people can opt out of Priority alerts. But I would think, you know, as I said earlier, you know, we live in this complex environment and you know, what we have consistently seen, especially in the floods and the cyclones that you experience in Queensland, is that people who understand their risk and understand the warnings are safer. And this is what we are attempting to do.
Steve Austin: You'd be aware that the last few months and in estimates in Federal Parliament in Canberra this week, there have been a range of telecommunications providers fronting up, giving explanations as to why the Triple Zero system wasn't available for some users. Are you concerned about the same problem for your national alert system that the Triple Zero callers had where they for some technical reason couldn't get access to make Triple Zero calls. Does this affect you in any way?
Brendan Moon: Look, this is a challenge globally. If there is a functioning mobile network in place, the AusAlert system will work. If there's not, then there will be other avenues and other channels which will be available to our communities to keep them safe.
Steve Austin: Like the ABC, basically, like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Brendan Moon: Absolutely, absolutely, Steve.
Steve Austin: All right, so that shouldn't be an issue, but there's fallback options if something like that happens.
Brendan Moon: Correct.
Steve Austin: All right, so the testing time is in the month of July and you'll be-
Brendan Moon: That's the national test, Steve. And then in June, in June of this year, we're running a test in each state of Australia and in Queensland it's Port Douglas.
Steve Austin: Okay, so Port Douglas, June. What date do you know?
Brendan Moon: It hasn't been set the date, but we'll certainly be communicating with the community a little closer to that time about what date it will be.
Steve Austin: Is it likely, I mean, we have cyclones here in Queensland. There's one possibly developing in Far North Queensland now. Would this be used for something like a cyclone warning?
Brendan Moon: Correct. Absolutely, Steve. And you know, we reflect back on the number of cyclones that impacted North Queensland and also more recently the South East Queensland cyclone. And what did work well in all of those situations was the warnings going out to the community that actually prepare them. This new technology will give us greater scale and almost realtime ability to send those warnings out.
Steve Austin: Some people, like me, quite prefer sort of basic mobile phones. In other words, non smartphones. Will they be able to receive the alerts as well?
Brendan Moon: So, we're working with the Department of Communications and also the Australian Telecommunications Alliance in this space. They have adopted a standard now that any device that was purchased in 2019 or later should be compatible with AusAlert. But we also recognise there will be a small number of phones that are older. And we're working right now with both the Department of Communications and all the mobile network operators to get an understanding of how many phones there may be in that particular cohort. But my message is for the next season, so we're talking 2026-27, we will still have access to emergency alerts, so they will still be able to receive any SMSs and also alerts to their landlines as we work through what is our workaround for those older phones. But I'd also go back to my earlier point as well, is this is part of a constellation of channels by which people will get alerts.
Steve Austin: Brendan Moon, thanks very much for your time. Best of luck for the trials.
Brendan Moon: Hey, thanks very much, Steve. Good to talk.
